Elevators
by CinnaAndFinnickLiveInMyHeart
Summary: Humerus stories of Johanna and Finnick. A choke-on-your-own-breath kind of laughter is stitched throughout. But for what first turns out to be just friendship for Johanna and Finnick, it slowly evolves into more. FINISHED
1. Friends

_**I have never written in 3rd person before, so some sentences might sound a little wacky. And so there's not any confusion, this happened after the chariot rides. Also, don't imagine Finnick in his costume. It's kinda creepy. Maybe hes magical, so he changed. Poof!**_

Stepping out of the shower, Johanna shakes her head clean of any stray water droplets. She grabs a fresh, bleach white towel from the rack next to her and tucks it under her armpits so it doesn't fall. _Finally, _she thinks to herself, _I'm out of that stupid costume._ Suddenly, her eyes widen as she realizes. _Wait, wait, wait. Wheres my costume? _She looks on the floor underneath her, only to see a soaking wet shower mat. _If anybody finds that in the elevator... _Cussing, Johanna scrambles out of the bathroom and pulls out her pajamas from the dresser, which includes plaid red and blue pants and a black tank-top. She slips them on, making sure to cover her anklet that never leaves her side with her pajama bottoms, and quickly rushes out of the room. Johanna bangs on the elevator button a couple of times and waits until small ding is heard and the doors glide open. Once she enters the elevator without noticing a heap of brown and green pieces of cloth littering the ground, the doors shut behind Johanna. The only thing she finds on the elevator worth noting is Finnick, gazing with deep intent on the glowing button surrounding the number 1. They start going down.

Distracted, Finnick looks up into her eyes, radiating with pure glee. "The button lights up when you push it! Who knew!"

Johanna, frustrated she was leaving her floor with this idiot, fumes, "You didn't know that!"

"Well, I sorta let Mags do all the pushing of the buttons when we came up to my room, but I didn't get out of the elevator quick enough, sort of like you, and I've been stuck here for..." He checks his watch. "20 minutes. At least until you came." Finnick pops a random sugar cube into his mouth.

She shakes her head. "Soooo, you haven't seen anything, I don't know, _treeish _here lately?"

"Not that I know of." _Darn, the Capitol must have taken it. They better not have any details..._

The elevator slowly comes to a halt after its previous descending. They can hear shouts even before the doors open. When they do, Johanna and Finnick look upon Gloss standing in the open with only a pair of boxers on and those ever so stylish knee-high tube socks on (cough_sarcasm_couch) yelling at his sisters door. "-GIVE ME BACK MY CLOTHES, CASHMERE!" The two could hear a small snickering emitting from inside the room Gloss was pacing rapidly. Abruptly,he turns around.

"PUSH A BUTTON, FINNY!" Finnick literally starts hitting the number 2 button just in time for the doors to close before Gloss charged.

Johanna starts cracking up, leaning on the wall for support. Finnick shares a light chuckle, but then asked, "Where did 'Finny' come from?"

She stops laughing, obviously embarrassed. "Errr, it just sort of came out."

Hes about to question further, until the dinging of the doors opening cuts him off. They're on District 2's floor. Johanna, soon followed by Finnick, presses her ear against Enobaria's entryway. They hear a woman, slightly agitated, talking to someone.

"-with olives and pepperoni and can I get that to go?" There is a pause. "What do you mean, I'm a tribute? I'm a Victor and I have just as enough rights as you do!" ... "Yes, I do! Don't you _dare_ talk legal with me, mister!" ... "Oh, sorry, _ma'am_." Johanna and Finnick hear a loud slam of a phone followed by a muttering of "I need some air..."

Quickly, they both manage to squeeze, side by side, behind an extremely large pot. _What type of indoor plant gets that big? _ Johanna wonders. Enobaria steps into the hallway and stands without movement. _Why dose she need air? She has 5 different air conditioners installed in her room!_

Hesitantly, Finnick tugs his arm out of between their sides pressed against each other. He places yet another unexpected sugar cube in his mouth. About 30 seconds later, he whispers, "Ewww, I think there is a giant, medieval hunk of plastic in my sugar! I swear, the whole world is going to turn into plastic one day!"

"Well, spit it out!"

Without delay, Finnick angles his head by the opening of the corner and the pot and shoots it out like a bullet, smacking Enobarias face. With a grunt, she exits back into her room.

Johanna and Finnick, both giggling, hurry onto the elevator as fast as they can. Johanna presses the 5 button and says, "Lets ding-dong-ditch this time!"

Apparently Finnick doesn't understand the full meaning of that because when they are at the District 5 male tribute's dwelling, Finnick says in his most high-pitched, womanly voice possible, "Ding dong! Uh, delivery!" Then he just stands there as the guy opens the door while Johanna is pressed against a wall out of his view. Finnick dose a hand-motion in front of the tributes face and blurts out, "Begone, fowl beast!" Then he runs, still in the guys sight, and slams right next to Johanna. He utters, "How was that?"

Johanna suddenly whips out a syringe and plunges it into the confused guys arm. Within seconds, the tribute falls to the ground, unconscious.

Finnick stutters, "Wh- Wha- Where did that come from?"

Johanna lifts up the bottom of her left pants leg to reveal her anklet. Stuffed in little pockets and rings are several needles, pills, and a miniature roll of duct tape.

"Ummm," Finnick says, "Are you sure that's safe?"

"What, do you want to try it out, Odair?"

"Err, no, I'm cool."

"That's what I thought." Johanna stares down at the guy, who seams to be in his early 20's. "We need to get him back into his room, that stuff only lasts for 3 hours." She starts dragging the tribute by his feet, so Finnick decides to help by grasping his feet. They haul him onto his bed, laying in an awkward position. Johanna picks up nearby vase and drops it onto the floor. It cracks into 3 large parts and millions of other little shards of glass shatter on the floor. "There," she says, "Now it looks as if it fell onto his head, causing a concussion... We couldn't have him knowing we're doing this."

They walk back into the elevator, stopping on the 12th floor. Johanna steps out and raps on Peetas door. There is no answer. Johanna says slowly, "If hes not in his room, then where could he-" The two look at each other at the same time, as if they were telepathic. Then, still in sync, both of their heads turn towards Katniss's door. All that is heard is a silent "Nooooo," coming from Johanna. "Finnick? What time is it?"

He raises his wrist to his face. "12: 37," he whispers. Finnick almost chokes when he says "Oh my gosh! They're just children!"

"Finnick, I think I've had enough for one night."

"Yeah, me too."

_**Sooo, did you love it! Its was just a random idea that popped in my head. I stayed up until 1 in the morning writing it. And I just started a forum, it's called "Finding Your Inner Tribute" including many topics. I urge you to visit it, please! Anyways, I was planning for this to be a one-shot, but it might turn into little chapters of Johanna and Finnick adventures if several people (that means YOU) review! And just for your understanding, I totally hate the idea of Peeta. Everything about Peeta is a shame. Don't judge. Please review!**_


	2. Once Again

_**I have decided to write more, thanks to all the reviewers! This is the second part in trilogy or possibly quadrilogy of chapters to be written. I'm starting to get more comfortable writing in third person now, so the style of my writing may be better. This is the first day of training. **_

The announcements start. _The nightmare is coming back_, Johanna thinks to herself. She is surrounded by only half of the other tributes that bothered to show up on time to hear Atala, the head training instructor, explain the route of the Training Center everyone has already explored years ago. Finnick's eye catches sight of Johanna in the back of the crowd, and hurries over to her when Atala stops talking.

They stand side by side, happy to have the company of the other. Johanna and Finnick are about to start walking over to an unoccupied station, when Katniss and Peeta walk by, hands clutched together tight. The two look over into each others eyes, thinking the same thing, and shiver for a moment.

Johanna and Finnick glide over to the camouflage station before the Morphlings arrive. They each try to start a conversation while painting their own arms without purpose, mostly consisting of "Last night was pretty crazy," and "Would you like a sugar cube?", but the small talk always dies off 10 seconds later. Johanna looks down at her painted arm for the first time after 5 minutes and sees what looks like a vicious potato with horns coming out of it's head. Frightened by the malicious vegetable, Johanna grabs a Wet Wipe from the small tub near the paints and forcefully scrubs it off.

"Err," Finnick says, "Did you just paint an angry potato on your arm?"

"What! Nooo, me? What are you talking about! Why would I do that?"

"Well, you were staring off at that wall over there for quite a while, and it didn't really look like you knew what you were doing."

"So did you!" Johanna accuses, which makes Finnick's grin droop. "Let me see _your _arm!"

"No!" He yells out, "It's, umm, personal!" Finnick hides his arm behind his back, keeping it out of sight from Johanna's craning neck. Then, she grabs his bicep and yanks it into eyesight. Some sort of deranged polar bear sitting on a spoon is painted there.

Smiling, Johanna pats his back. "Niccccce."

"Hey, I didn't know what I was doing!"

"Of course you didn't."

They sit in silence until the male from District 5 hobbles up, rubbing his head. "May I join you?" he asks. They nod, not really wanting to turn him down. "Oh, and by the way, my name's Ames."

The young man starts swirling a mix of brown and green on his palm until he says, "Man, I had this weird dream last night!"

Johanna and Finnick share worried glances, then continue to listen. "First, there was this woman at my door. She said she had a delivery. Then this guy was there. He claimed I was a beast and quickly ran away. Suddenly, I fell back asleep again in my own dream. Creepy, isn't it?"

"Yeah, uhhh, we have to go now, and, uhhh..." Finnick stutters, he seems at a loss for words.

"Go to the archery station!" Johanna finishes. She grasps Finnick's hand and pulls him to his feet. They rush over to the other side of the arena where a single person tries to shoot an arrow.

When the two are close enough to pick up a bow, Johanna notices her district partner, Blight, fling an arrow that lands about 3 meters in front of him.

"Poke," Finnick says, while doing the action on Blight's shoulder as he's about to load his bow.

Blight gives him a confused expression, but then ignores him as if nothing happened.

Catching on, Johanna dose the same poking-and-saying action. "Poooooke."

"Poke!" exclaims Finnick.

"Poke!"

"P-p-p-p-p-p-poke!"

"Will you stop that!" Blight fumes, agitated now.

Johanna pauses. "Touch!" She pokes him as her voice rises.

"What is with you people!" Blight storms off right when Johanna and Finnick burst out with giggles.

They stay in the archery station for about an hour. Although neither of them have any desire to battle with bows and arrows, it calmed them to draw back the string and release. A fake breeze flows past them from time to time, mysteriously emitting from a wall in the back of the room. Then, the smell of baked goods wafts around their noses, leading them into the cafeteria.

After they grab their food from the buffet, they seat themselves at a small two person table. Johanna and Finnick eat half of the food on their trays in silence, with all of the other tributes yapping in the background.

Finnick puts his unpeeled banana up to his ear. "Ring, ring," he mutters out of the corner of his mouth, trying to conceal that he made the noise.

He looks at Johanna's fruit expectantly. He whispers, "That's for you." Curious what Finnick's trying to accomplish, Johanna raises her bannana to her ear.

"Yes?" she answers.

"Agent Mason, we have criminal on the loose nearby."

"Really? And who is that?"

"YOU!" After Finnick quickly fly's a sugar cube into his mouth, he spins the banana in his hand and points it at Johanna, pretending it's a gun. He ducks behind the table, showing only his eyes and the 'weapon' in his hands. "Pew! Pew! Pew!" His hands directed at Johanna jolt every time he makes a noise.

Johanna squeals with laughter as she sinks to her knees and slides over to Finnick, banana in hand. "Bam! Bam! Bam!" she yells, standing up to chase him across the cafeteria.

The room turns into complete chaos. The two sprint here and there, playing like kids again. They crawl under tables, stand up on chairs, and even hide behind the other tributes.

Ending the madness, Peacekeepers stride into the cafeteria. Before they get to the trouble makers, Finnick clutches onto Johanna's hand and says, "Don't let go." The Peacekeepers have to unlace their fingers one by one to tear them apart. As they are dragged out, they can hear the chuckles from the rest of the tributes.

Johanna is forcefully thrown into her room, landing face first onto the floor. She can hear the small chatter of the Peacekeepers as they exit the room and walk into the elevator. A strong desire to see Finnick once more washes over Johanna. She stands up and places her hand on the door knob and is about to turn it. But as she dose so, a strong zap flows through her hand, up her arm, and down to her toes, leaving her unconscious on the ground.

**_I stayed up until 2 in the morning writing this, I was laughing so hard. I had a particular liking for the part at the end, by the way. The next chapter will come soon. Please review!_**


	3. Problems

_**Sorry it's been a while since I've updated, I haven't had my laptop with me lately due to various reasons. The first character showed in this chapter is **_**not**_** anyone you will recognize, FYI.**_

She paces down the bleached white hall, her long, sanitary cloak flowing behind her. Her steps are constant, the _click click_ of her high heels tapping the ground is the only thing to be heard.

Not trying to disturb the patients inside, the woman gingerly opens the door to the double-bedded room. She maneuvers her way around the IV stand connected to both patients and places the two plastic trays carrying food in her hands onto the large bedside table in the middle of the beds.

The lady turns around to face the IV stand and punches in a 4 digit code that from there unlocks the morphling drip. Below the lock, the drip settings are labeled OFF, LOW, MED, HI, and XHI. The slide controlling the settings is on OFF until she moves it, aiming for MED.

A buzzing interrupts her small task, and she stares down at the walkie-talkie latched to her belt. During that split-second, the woman's hand twitches and flicks the slide over to XHI without noticing. _"Carol, we need you down in room B17, _now._"_

Carol picks up her walkie-talkie and puts it to her mouth, still gazing down. "One moment please, I'm tending to the rescue survivors."

The static fuzzes out of her hand. "Now_, Carol. Krystal Storm is having a heart failure." _The voice is urgent and rushed.

A small gasp escapes Carol. "On my way!" Without looking at the drip settings, she quickly types in the code to lock the slide. Gazing at the small clock in the room, which reads 9:56 am, she speed-walks out of the room.

Johanna's eyes flutter open to a blazing white light overhead. An ache so intense spread through her body it was as if she couldn't move. Most of the pain was coming from a migraine, and her arms and legs felt as if a pack of snarling dogs tugged at them, pulling each limb away from her torso. Why was she even here, and where is here? Johanna racked her mind, looking for that small piece of evidence, until a short memory came zipping back and hit her in the head. She was far underneath the presidents mansion in a cramp dungeon. Suddenly, a group of people burst into the room, not wearing any ridiculous Capitol outfits. Johanna desperately searches her memory for more information, but nothing is there.

A small moan comes out of her as she slightly tilts her head to the side to see a morpling drip connected to her and... Finnick.

He wakes up, having to shield his eyes from the light with a hand, surprisingly not held down by a resistant. Johanna raises her head and looks down at the rest of her mangled body, nothing is there to keep her from moving, besides the pain. A plain white flannel outfit has been placed on her.

Despite the light being too bright for Finnick, his pupils widen when he spots the morphling drip. "Errr, Johanna?"

"Yes?" Johanna didn't expect her voice to be croaked and shrill.

"Do you think there is any reason the morphling drip is set on extra hi?" His eyebrows raise in concern.

"What!" Johanna flings her head over, a bit too fast causing an excruciating pain running up her neck. She stares at the slide in shock, then looks dead into Finnicks eyes. "How long has it been like this? The clock says it's 1:41 pm now."

"I don't know." His hand goes over to the slide, but it refuses to move since the code is needed to gain access. "Oh gosh,this is going to be bad."

"No kidding."

_**Yes, I know there was no humor involved, but that is a chance for you to get involved! Send in your most craziest idea for Johanna and Finnick to do in the next chapter while extremely loopy under the morphling and I will try my best to put that into the story! If I do, your name will be featured in this little area, giving full credit to your idea. And if you haven't guessed it already, they're in District 13. Thanks!**_


	4. The End

_**Special thanks to special reviewers: Tybee10, Beauty'sInTheEye, SirenTheSpazz, Cloud-Lover26, kc256, and EvilMastermindInProgress. Some of you gave me ideas, and some of you stuck with me throughout. To all, thank you.**_

**Johanna's Point of View**

Finnick falls off his bed. No warning indicated. His morphling drip snaps off of his arm while he falls face-first onto the white tile. Oh no, the morphling is kicking in! Who knows how long I have until I turn into some crazed phycopath like Finnick over there? I yank my morphling drip off my arm, a grin spreading across my lips.

When I look back to the floor where Finnick used to be, I notice he moved. He is now under the table separating our two beds, holding a whole cantaloupe in his arms. Don't ask, I have _no idea_ where that came from. "Got my bazooka," He manages to say through a round of chaotic laughter, "I'm ready for anything!" He laughs so hard I keep thinking he's going to choke while he stares off into the distant wall. Suddenly, his head twists over in my direction, looking scared. "Don't look at me that way!" His drooped mouth whines with his hands crossed over his chest like he's hiding.

Okay, so first I'm going to be a loopy weirdo, which I already knew, but I will also have random mood-swings? The possibilities keep piling up.

Then Finnick's expression becomes dazed as he looks into nothing. His hand slowly raises out in fron to him. "Johanna. Do you see that?" I see nothing. "I-I think it's a light. What does this mean?" He looks into my eyes. "Come with me into the light, Johanna. It is our destinnnnyyyyyyyyy." He carries the last part on longer than needed.

"No, Finnick. It's just an effect of the morphling! We need t-"

An odd yellow haze covers my vision. It feels like something zoomed through my brain and-

The door to my bunker slams open with a bang. There stands Finnick in some ridiculously awkward pose. I steal a snicker. Oh Finnick...

He hops across the room and lands on my bed with a thud, stretching out his long limbs while I stand at the foot of my four-poster. It is now regular for Finnick to come to my bunker, and for the past two months he has been very comftorable with me and my personality.

"Guess what!" he almost screams. "I signed you up to come with me and the others to go kick some Capital boo-tay!" His eyes widen and he does little jazz-hands by his face. "_Ex-cite-ment!"_

I laugh. That's one of our few inside jokes. A while back, when the high dose of morphling wore off and I was finally aware of my actions, the people from District 13 showed Finnick and I all that we did through the lenses of several hidden cameras.

Now of course, I didn't remember any of this because I was basically unconscious, but we must have had a fun time. Finnick and I would be out in the sanitary hallway, annoying everyone that passed by. Whenever that _lucky_ person stormed off, I would jump up and down yelling "Ex-cite-ment!" What dorks we are.

Anyways, back to present time. Finnick finishes explaining that we will be leaving on a hovercraft in the morning, being sent to the Capitol to defeat the demons. He finishes explaining, and we stay in my bunker for a few hours. Mostly doing mindless actions, like reciting our childhood past, or dancing to the nonexistent music in our heads.

At one point, Finnick lays on the floor surrounded by his own heap of thoughts when I imagine a slow, fragile piece of music. Something worthy of a royal ball, yet it has an upbeat percussion section in the background. So I start spinning, round and round and round again. My feet loose balance, my head spins out of control, and I fall to the carpeted floor right on top of Finnick.

At first, his eyes are shocked, and so are mine, but then he lunges in to kiss me, and so do I. His arms wrap around my waist yet his lips pull away, but his mouth is replaced with a crooked smile he often wears. I accept this. I must remind myself, we are friends. We are just friends...

When he leaves to get ready for dinner District 13 demands, it pains me to see him leave, but I know I will be with him tomorrow. I have to.

That night I have a dream. I am standing on ashes I don't seem to notice. Finnick is a distance away from me, and I sprint towards him. It's like I am about to jump into his open arms for a moment, but then he too turns into ashes. A breeze picks up and I am left in the mist of the gray dust.

My life is a blur when I wake up. Someone, who I don't bother to recognize, drags me out of my bunker and dresses me in some outfit with nifty little pockets and what-not. I am on to the hovercraft and dropped off in the Capitol. From there the mission is seemingly endless. Arrows flying in the polluted sky, hoarse shouting, feet frantically scurrying here and there. I might have slept a few times, but almost nothing crosses my mind but Finnick.

When we boarded the hovercraft, Finnick gave me his hand told me to not to let go. Since then, I have not let go. Even at night, with both our eyes closed, our fingers were laced together.

Other than that, life's a haze. Until I feel a sharp tug on my arm.

I wake up. Everything is clear. The others in the team are standing behind me preparing to run until they see me. Their faces morph into an expression of fear, pity, and that extra little touch I only know too well. All of them are staring down at my hand. My hand, wha...?

I take in the rest of my surroundings. I am on my knees, kneeling on the ground. My arm is stretched into a gutter infested with malicious reptile-like mutts. At the end of my fingers is Finnick's soot-stained hand.

His leg. Oh, his leg. Half of it is gone, the end of it gushing out blood into it's own stream at the bottom of the sewer. Two long gashes bleed from his left cheek. It is terrifying. Absolutely horrifying in every which way.

Except his eyes. His eyes glow a gorgeous emerald flaked with shards of ember. They aren't over-sized like in some drawings, they are just amazing. And his lips. Unlike the rest of his body, they have not been scratched, beaten, or covered in blood. Beautiful.

Finnick is still dangling on, but his grip is faltering. I clamp my other hand on top of his for support. I can get him up. I have to. I can fix him. I have to.

I lean my face in close to his, feeling every hard-working pulse from his hand which slows every second. Ever so lightly, I say "Don't let go." Finnick shines one last smile, brighter than the sun.

And he let's go.

Time slows down again. I can sense somebody coming up behind me to restrain myself from jumping into the gutter with him, but I can't resist them. My limbs won't work since my life is gone. It just slipped out of my hands. Cold hands pin my arms to my middle, but I don't like these hands.

I imagine Peeta cradling Katniss in his arms, Prim sitting on her mother's lap, Cecelia's children clutching on to her pleading her don't go. Please, please, don't go. I'm not like the rest of them. There's no one left I love.

Here I am in the field of ashes again, stuck in the cloud of the ones I loved. I realize it's my family, friends, all gone. All taken by the Capitol.

No. The Capitol has taken too much from me already. I won't give them my sanity, my full-functioning brain, my urge to continue life. I won't let them have it, because only I can control that.

A memory sparks. That person was dressing me. A girl, if I remember right. She slipped a pill into the pocket on my shoulder, only to use when necessary.

There's nothing to stop me. I bite open the flap and slip the pill into my mouth where I choke it down.

The chaos behind me fades. All noises come to rest, until all I hear left is the steady _thump, thump_ of my heart. And then, that stops too.

Everyone stands before me. All of them are draped in some type of white, linen clothing with a white background as far as I can see. Or at least as far as I _want_ to see. I notice that I too are wearing a simple, sheen frock.

My gaze turns back to the people. It's my parents, siblings, all 12 that the Capitol killed. They all share an aura of happiness, like they're glad I'm finally here. Towards the end of the group, an image comes into place. No, not an image, a person. Prim.

And gleaming in the front of everyone is Finnick.

I sprint into his arms and hold him tight. We hug there for a moment, until he releases me. I take hold of his hand. I say, "Don't let go."

He sparkles me a smile. "I promise."


End file.
